Atalanta and Sassuolo Have Their Eyes on the Coppa Italia Prize

Atalanta vs Sassuolo

Atalanta and Sassuolo will fight it out for a spot in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, when the former hosts the latter at the Gewiss Stadium on Wednesday night.

Both teams had contrasting results last time out, as Atalanta defeated Lecce on Saturday while Sassuolo’s winless run in Serie A continued with yet another loss against AC Milan.

But the New Year means new opportunities, and what better way to start 2024 than with a win here in the Cup? After all, Atalanta and Sassuolo aren’t exactly considered contenders in this particular competition historically.

And while the pre-game SBOTOP betting odds are in favour of Atalanta, they cannot take Sassuolo for granted, even if they’re in a huge slump right now.

Talking Points

Atalanta looking for a Lookman replacement

Ademola Lookman is set to join Nigeria for the upcoming AFCON, which means that he won’t be with Atalanta in a couple of weeks.

The 26-year-old winger picked up where he left off after a solid debut campaign with Atalanta, as this season he is still their main man with seven goals and three assists.

Now that Lookman’s unavailable, this opens up minutes for those behind him in the depth chart, such as the likes of Luis Muriel and Charles De Ketelaere.

This season, Luis Muriel has regained his form with six goals and one assist, while Charles De Ketelaere is enjoying his loan spell in Bergamo since he is not far behind with four goals and four assists.

For Gian Piero Gasperini’s part, choosing between the two will depend on their schedule and his tactics. In his usual 3-4-1-2 formation, either one of them will link up with Gianluca Scamacca up front, who has six goals this season.

But while Atalanta’s frontline is loaded, the same can’t be said about their backline since Rafael Toloi, Jose Luis Palomino, and 20-year-old wunderkind Giorgio Scalvini are all injured right now.

So on Wednesday, Gasperini could have Sead Kolasinac, Berat Djimsiti, and Giovanni Bonfanti provide cover for either Juan Musso or Marco Carnesecchi.

Sassuolo need to tighten up at the back

Speaking of the backline, that has been a worrying concern for Sassuolo, especially in recent weeks.

In December 2023 alone, I Neroverdi conceded a total of nine goals, so now they own the second-worst defence in Serie A (33 opposition goals) behind cellar dwellers Salernitana (36 opposition goals).

And similar to Atalanta, their medical room is occupied, with the likes of Uros Racic, Daniel Boloca, Gregoire Defrel, Matias Vina, and Pedro Obiang all on the mend.

Top scorer Domenico Berardi, at least, was fit against AC Milan. However, there’s a real possibility that he will be given the night off against Atalanta alongside fellow forwards Armand Lauriente and Andrea Pinamonti.

If the Coppa Italia 2024 news confirms this, fringe youngsters such as Cristian Volpato, Emil Konradsen Ceide, and Samuele Mulattieri could be given a chance to prove themselves in the starting lineup, and having Kristian Thorstvedt in midfield helps a lot.

History

Atalanta have been waiting for a long time to finally win their second Coppa Italia, as they last won it in 1963. Since then, they’ve lost four finals, with their latest one in 2021 against Juventus.

Meanwhile, Sassuolo have never been to the Coppa Italia final, let alone won a single Cup.

The winner of this Coppa Italia Round of 16 tiff will face either Cagliari or AC Milan in the next round.

These two teams already met earlier this season in Serie A (August 2023), where Atalanta won 2-0, thanks to late goals by Charles De Ketelaere and Nadir Zortea.

Last season, however, they split their two league meetings, with Atalanta winning 2-1 in October 2022 and Sassuolo winning 1-0 in February 2023.

Betting Tip 

As mentioned, the Coppa Italia 2024 odds like Atalanta’s chances to advance on Wednesday. La Dea are priced at 1.53, while I Neroverdi are 5.80 underdogs, and a draw is at 3.40 odds in the 1X2 market.

While Sassuolo are capable on the road, Atalanta are much better at home this season since they’ve won six of their last nine in the league this term. And because they’re a deeper team, La Dea should be able to advance to the next round, no problem.

For other bets, you may want to consider Total Goal 2-3 at 1.97, Total Goal 4-6 at 2.63, and Over 3.00 at 1.96 since Sassuolo’s defence in particular has been suspect, and we expect more of the same this Wednesday.

 

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